Goal scorer Kyle Fryatt in action during the second half of the match.
More photos from the match are here.
Sunderland RCA welcomed early pace setters Newton Aycliffe who despite their defeat to Bishop Auckland sat proudly at the top of the Ebac Northern League Division I.
After the early morning rain the pitch was looking fantastic and the sun had broken through to make it an almost perfect day for a game of football. The resident fox also made an appearance running across the pitch, a sight very few people will see around Northern League grounds, but witnessed by ex-Sunderland midfielder Brian Atkinson, the manager of Newton Aycliffe.
Steve Riley and his team had made two additions to the squad in mid-week with the signing of Andre Bennett and Kyle Fryatt from West Auckland Town and both were included in the squad. Mark Davison and Andrew Johnson were both injured and missed the match while Callum Guy was away on holiday and Nathan Lawrence was unavailable.
The teams lined up as follows:
Sunderland RCA: Marrs, Allen, Charlton ©, Jakab, Hall, Patton, Morris, Moan, Annang-Colquhoun, Fryatt, Charmey. Subs: Bennett, Lavery, Nelson, Ene, Richards.
Newton Aycliffe: McHugh, Munro, Ferguson, Callaghan, Eckley-Aldsworth, Costello, Wood, Petitjean, Clarkson, Owens, Dawson. Subs: Naylor, Greenwood, Taylor, Reay, Oliver.
RCA took advantage of the slope in the first half kicking toward the Beechbrooke end of the ground.
The early stages of the game were fairly mundane as both teams sought to get a foothold in the game. The first half chance of the game came when Fryatt closed down McHugh and the Aycliffe keeper hit the ball straight at the RCA forward, but the ball rebounded away from goal.
In the 11th minute a fantastic shot from Charmey opened the scoring a quick ball forward by Moan was picked up just inside the Aycliffe half by Charmey and with the defenders backing off he struck a shot from 30 yards out which dipped under the bar and into the top corner of the net.
Aycliffe tried to respond down the right through Dawson who combined with Wood to create space before whipping in a great looking cross into the six yard area but Marrs was on hand to cut the cross out.
The game had stepped up a gear now with Aycliffe presenting a threat on both wings, but any crosses into the box were easily dealt with by Hall and Jakab.
The first corner to Aycliffe on the right was aimed toward the back post and although Allen was able to get a head to the ball it fell to Wood on the edge of the box and he drilled a low shot through a crowd of players but Marrs was able to react quickly to save diving to his left.
A head injury to players from both sides interrupted play with Moan having to go off the field to receive further treatment. He returned after a couple of minutes and was immediately in the thick of the action winning the ball in the centre circle to release Annang-Colquhoun whose shot was blocked by Costello and cleared by Munro.
A good run on the right by Allen produced the next real action with his cross defended by Eckley-Aldsworth, the ball fell to Patton, but he hit his shot wide.
The pressure RCA were creating finally paid off on the half hour mark when Allen again broke on the right and fed the ball to Morris who whipped a low cross into the box where Charmey left the ball for Fryatt to curl the ball beyond the reach of McHugh and into the far corner of the net, another well worked goal.
Wood was posing the main threat to RCA, but Moan and Patton were keeping the Aycliffe captain quiet for the majority of the time and reducing him to try long range efforts which never troubled the home keeper.
RCA should have increased their lead when a cross field ball from Hall was picked up by Charlton who took the ball forward before delivering a low cross into the six yard area to Charmey who only needed to make contact with the ball to score but he completely missed the ball.
A minute later and Annang-Colquhoun was hauled to the ground by Costello, Patton took the free kick, picking out Hall at the back post, but he could not direct his header on target.
In the final minute of the half a throw in by Charlton was picked up by Fryatt who made space inside the penalty area before striking a low shot which forced a good save from McHugh.
Newton Aycliffe made three substitutions at half time in an effort to stem the attacking threat of RCA.
As early as the 47th minute Aycliffe produced a good attacking move with Costello and Wood combining in midfield before Wood released the ball to Owens who drilled a low shot which forced a great save from Marrs and Owens following up could only stab the loose ball wide.
Minutes later and Owens was in the thick of it again this time a long ball forward by Callaghan was picked up by the Aycliffe forward but he hit his first time shot over the bar.
Aycliffe, with the advantage of the slope, were forcing RCA onto the back foot, but the defence was coping admirably with the pressure. Substitute Reay was causing a few problems with his mazy runs and on the hour mark threaded a great ball through to Owens but he hooked his shot into the side netting.
Aycliffe’s next attack was stopped by a lunging tackle by Lavery which produced a freekick, Wood took the kick aiming it toward Owens at the back post but Allen got his head to it first and cleared the ball up field.
RCA made a number of substitutes and Bennett created a good chance for Fryatt who ran through the middle of the Aycliffe defence and it took a solid defensive tackle from Eckley-Aldsworth to deny the RCA forward of his second goal with the loose ball being cleared by Munro before Charlton could pounce.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes Aycliffe pushed more players forward, but RCA’s back line were holding firm. Nelson on for Hall was instrumental in stopping Reay when he threatened to break into the penalty area and Jakab was on hand to head clear a Wood cross.
RCA broke quickly with Annang-Colquhoun picking up a Charlton through ball and holding it up to allow Fryatt to join in the attack before releasing the ball to Charlton whose cross was cleared by Callaghan.
Into the final minutes and Aycliffe’s pressure was intense with RCA forced to concede a corner deep into injury time.The corner was swung in by Wood and Costello met it with a downward header which bounced up off the hard ground, struck the underside of the bar and down into the arms eventually of Marrs, but once again as in the Whickham game the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line to make it 2-1.
RCA kicked off and tried to take the ball into the corner, but instead the ball was won by McHugh who launched the ball forward which caused a problem at the back for RCA who conceded another corner, McHugh raced forward to create havoc in the box, Wood took the corner but to the relief of the RCA players the ball the ball was cleared and the resulting shot went high over the bar and the referee blew for full time.
This was a fantastic team performance by RCA who once again have proved that if they put their mind to it they can beat anyone on the day. We now need to find some consistency and when that comes we will look to climb the league and can look forward to a good cup run.
Next up we play Whickham away on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 kick off 7.30pm.